Influences on Case-Managed Community Aged Care Practice.

Abstract

Case management has been widely implemented in the community aged care setting. In this study, we aimed to explore influences on case-managed community aged care practice from the perspectives of community aged care case managers. We conducted 33 semistructured interviews with 47 participants. We drew these participants from a list of all case managers working in aged care organizations that provided publicly funded case management program(s)/packages in Victoria, Australia. We used a multilevel framework that included such broad categories of factors as structural, organizational, case manager, client, and practice factors to guide the data analysis. Through thematic analysis, we found that policy change, organizational culture and policies, case managers' professional backgrounds, clients with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and case management models stood out as key influences on case managers' practice. In the future, researchers can use the multilevel framework to undertake implementation research in similar health contexts.